Panel data provided by Madison's Canadian Lumber Reporter.

Open Letter to Mayor Kinsley

By 250 News

-by Andrea MacDonald


Mr Kinsley, I hardly think that the residents of Connaught/Millar Addition find the idea of turning the Backpacker Motel into a shelter/counseling center for drug addicts and homeless persons as "challenging". Your condescending attitude is not appreciated and certainly not warranted. Perhaps a challenge to you is to disseminate valid information, not half truths when you are rationalizing yet another inadequate and ill conceived decision made by the city. Where are the facts to support your ridiculous notions?

You are finding it difficult to keep your own rhetoric consistent. On the one hand, you state that there is a problem in the area now, but you also state that the conversion of Jacobs motel to McQuaid place solved problems in the area. Under your leadership, our neighborhood has deteriorated further than under any other watch. The same goes for
the downtown area. Where are the facts to support your ridiculous notions?

The challenge is for you to come up with facts, not the rhetoric that  you find so easily and lightly throw around. Your own opinion is a far cry from having "signatures" and facts. How often will you state that  the majority of the residents are in favor of this proposal before you can back it up with signatures?

The residents are in favor of by-law enforcement and neighborhood improvements. Does your planning department not recognize their mistakes from the past and improve?

It appears that your idea of a solution to prostitution in the city is to move the prostitues into the "well lit areas of Connaught" rather than dealing head on with the issues of prostitution. If you want to move them to a well lit area, move them to the lawns of city hall.  Then you can afford them protection and privileges "in the light", and
far greater than what is given to tax paying citizens.

Thirty minutes in the day of a connaught residence is as follows:
as I stroll through the neighborhood, I encounter two prostitutes being picked up by fairly wealthy men driving relatively new SUVs, one white Tahoe and one dark blue Blazer. From there my walk took me past  a crack house where a potential customer stood at the door waiting for his goods. Around the corner I encounter a drunk stumbling around kicking street stones and throwing verbal comments my way. Next to the gas station, partially hidden in the back alley was a young prostitute digging an apparatus out of her bag that sure appeared to be a
"needle".

You have the condescending attitude to ask "what are we concerned about". If it isn't a problem, then concentrate more of these issues in your own neighborhood. We have had enough.

I challenge you and Mr. Krause to get your heads out of your bubbles and quit talking long enough to listen to real concerns. The citizens of Connaught/Millar Addition care for their neighborhood.

We know you are working from your answer backward, so quit slinging insults, misinformation, and show us the facts. Mr. Mayor, we are not the ones who find your ideas challenging. You cannot honestly and
openly articulate them yourself!


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